When the clocks went back this weekend, Stockport County didn’t just change the hour – they changed the era.
The League One club launched its new County Classics range with a bold, immersive campaign that didn’t simply reference nostalgia — they recreated it. Fans didn’t scroll past a memory; they woke up inside one.
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A Time Machine, Not a Throwback
The first drop, County Classics: 96 Home, celebrates the 1996/97 season – one of the most memorable chapters in County history with a faithful recreation of the home shirt from that season with an inspired training range. The campaign hinged on a simple but powerful idea: “The clocks have gone back. You’ve woken up in 1996.”
The shirt, originally worn across the 1996/97 and 1997/98 campaigns, symbolised a moment when the club was rising through the leagues and the town was buzzing with pride. County’s marketing team saw an opportunity to use that story as the foundation for a new long-term product platform – one that connects generations through shared emotion rather than just aesthetics.
Building a World Around a Moment
Rather than releasing a product, Stockport County built an experience.
The campaign opened with a Saturday night teaser – a vintage digital alarm clock set to 19:96 urging fans to “put your clocks back.” By Sunday morning, the world of County Classics had come to life across every channel.
A cinematic launch video showed a fan sitting at a retro desk setup, surrounded by era-defining details – matchday programmes, cassette tapes, and a flickering monitor as a player drove a 1996 Mercedes from the training ground to Edgeley Park.
From that moment, time officially turned back.
The creative direction fused cinema and nostalgia, making it feel less like a campaign and more like a cultural reset. Across social media, fans engaged with desk setups, sticker-book reveals, and a nostalgic collaboration with Stockport musician Antony Szmierek, whose track “Great Pyramid of Stockport” became the soundtrack to the story.
To complete the illusion, the club’s official website was fully transformed into a 90s-inspired digital time capsule. The takeover featured all of the content captured for the campaign and presented it in one place for the fans.
Every click reinforced the narrative that fans had truly “woken up in 1996.” The front page was dominated by County Classics content, throwback headlines, and references to historic fixtures, making the club’s digital home feel like a living scrapbook of that unforgettable season.
It wasn’t just a homepage update – it was part of the storytelling architecture, turning the entire site into an extension of the campaign’s central idea: this weekend, time has officially gone back.
Structure, Story, Sentiment
Behind the emotional narrative sat a meticulously planned, multi-phase rollout:
- Saturday, 6pm: Teaser — “Don’t forget to put your clocks back…”
- Sunday, 9am: Launch video goes live — “You’ve woken up in 1996.”
- 9:30am–11:30am: Nostalgic content drops — desk imagery, sticker-book reveals, training range features.
- 12pm: Range goes on sale, beginning with Season Ticket Holders, then Members, then general release.
- Afternoon: Player-led and cultural collaborations, with men’s and women’s players as well as local music artist Antony Szmierek.
This structured timing mirrored the natural rhythm of a fan’s Sunday – waking up, reliving memories, then joining the story in real time.
Authenticity Over Aesthetic
The success of County Classics lies in its attention to detail, not just tone. The campaign’s world felt lived-in: every detail, from the 90s-era alarm clock to the layout of the desk, was sourced to echo the real County experience of 1996. Even the product narrative acknowledged the nuance – that the shirt was worn across both 96/97 and 97/98 seasons showing the club’s respect for historical accuracy and its fans’ deep knowledge.
This authenticity gave the campaign credibility beyond design. Fans weren’t being sold a shirt; they were being invited back into a story they already owned.
@stockportcountyfc Keys in the ignition. Cassette in the deck. We’re driving straight back to 1996. County Classics: 96 Home Edition On sale from 12pm to Season Ticket Holders, 1pm to Members and 1:30pm for General Sale 💙 #footballtiktok #soccertiktok #retro #nostalgic #stockport
A Case Study in Modern Football Storytelling
For a club on the rise, County Classics is more than a retail range – it’s a brand platform.
It positions Stockport County as a club that understands the emotional value of its history while communicating in a visual language that feels current, cinematic, and culturally fluent.
By aligning product, storytelling, and timing with emotional fan moments – even something as simple as the clocks going back. County bridged nostalgia and innovation.
This wasn’t just about looking back; it was about reminding fans that the same pride, belief, and identity that defined 1996 still drives the club today.
Michael Taylor, Head of Marketing for Stockport County said:
“With County Classics, we wanted to do more than re-release a shirt. We wanted to dive into a topical conversation that all fans and wider consumers can relate to and tell our story.
We used the clocks going back as the catalyst and built hype around the product drop within the Stockport fan community and beyond using a local artist who is driving a lot of attention to the area.
The 1996 season means so much to our supporters, and by using creative queues to recreate that feeling in detail, we gave fans the chance to genuinely wake up in 1996 for a day. It’s a celebration of what makes Stockport County unique – our history, our people, and our pride in where we’ve come from.”
The Final Word
In an era where many clubs’ chase nostalgia through surface-level retro releases, Stockport County built something different: a story that fans could step into.
The clocks went back, and Stockport County moved forward.
Check out the County Classics range here.
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